“Orpheus worries about you. Now I understand why. He feels guilty for exposing you to Hades so he could rescue me.”
She ran her fingers along the backs of his and remembered her perfect house on Lake Washington. Remembered those hellhounds destroying it. “I know he does. I was upset when he first brought me to the colony, but when I found out he’d come after me to save you…well, not much you can be angry about there anymore, you know?”
“I’d still have been angry. Orpheus has always done shit without thinking of the consequences.”
She chuckled, because that sounded a lot like Orpheus to her. But she also knew what Orpheus had done had been for good, not selfishness. “He loves you, you know.”
Gryphon rested his chin against her shoulder. “I know.”
They sat for several minutes in silence, just looking out over the water, his warm breath heating her body, his fingers against her waist slowly stoking the fire in her blood.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he said into her hair.
“What?”
“How did we get from that boat here? I mean, I know you said we drove, but…how the hell did you get me off that boat? I must have passed out, because I don’t remember anything except…”
She smiled. “Except sex?”
His lips curled against her neck. “Yeah. That. Really hot sex.”
Desire slid back through her veins. She shouldn’t be turned on again, not after the numerous times they’d already ravaged each other, but she was. “Well, when your legs buckled and you fell and hit your head then passed out, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get you off that boat before someone found us, so I untied it from the dock and we sailed across to the other side of the lake.”
“So that’s how I got that bump on my head.”
She cringed. “Yeah. Sorry. I tried to stop you from falling, but you’re a little heavier than I am. I couldn’t hold you up.”
He chuckled. “So you stole someone’s boat.”
“I didn’t steal it. I borrowed it. And I’ll have you know I left it tied to a dock on the other side of the lake in pristine condition along with a note apologizing for the owner’s inconvenience. Then I stole a car.”
His laughter echoed all through her torso, and she found herself smiling all over again. “My woman, the thief. No wonder Orpheus likes you.”
Her pulse sped up at his words. My woman. She wasn’t his woman. Didn’t think she ever could be. But hearing him say it… It touched her in a way she hadn’t expected.
He hugged her tighter as they sat in the sand looking out over the moonlit water. “Why aren’t you with someone? Why are you alone? Why hasn’t some male snatched you up already?”
The questions caught her off guard. “You know why I’m alone.”
“Because you’re hiding from Hades? You can hide with someone. You don’t have to hide alone.”
“I haven’t always been alone. When I was younger—much younger—I didn’t particularly like being alone. But I learned early on that relationships with humans lead to nothing but heartbreak. Their lives only last a maximum of a hundred years, and mine…well, my existence is ageless, so long as I don’t do anything to draw attention and get myself killed.”
“Were you ever in love?” he asked quietly.
She thought back. Remembered the joy. And the pain. The heartbreak lingered longer than the love. Funny that now it was all she could really remember. “Three times. The first was a Spartan warrior. That was dumb. He died before we’d really even gotten to know each other. But he was kind and gentle, and back then I had delusions that a warrior could take on a god. I was wrong.”
When he didn’t say anything, she went on. “The second was many years later. I was older, thought I was wiser and more prepared. He was a gladiator who’d won his freedom, and he was as sick of war and fighting as I was. We had a small house on the coast in Spain. He only lived to be about sixty. Died in his sleep.”
Theodosius. That had been his name. His gentle face flashed in her mind. It had been so long ago, it was as if all the love and pain and heartbreak had happened to someone else.
She drew in a breath. “And the last…well, it was over a thousand years later. He was a Spanish explorer. Let me sail with him. That’s how I ended up in the new world. Liked it so much I stayed. But he died of malaria.” Her heart pinched at the memory. “Since then… Well, since then, let’s just say it’s just been easier to keep to myself. Safer, too.”
His arms tightened around her. “What about half-breeds? Their life spans are longer. As long as Argoleans. And there are Titans living in the human realm.”
She nearly laughed. “Half-breeds? Are you serious? The ones at the colony looked at me like I’m a freak. No, someone who knows Hades’s fury definitely wouldn’t want to be with me. As for Titans…that would be like condemning myself to this realm forever. If Zeus ever found out I shacked up with a Titan, he’d make sure I never got to Olympus.”